Revolutionary device for people with autism was selected as the best startup in The S Factory

The startup “Reveal by Awake Labs” won The S Factory (TSF) 2nd Generation Pitch Finale. The Canadian startup competed against the top 10 proyects of the CORFO program centered in female founders.Revolutionary device for people with autism was selected as the best startup in The S Factory

SANTIAGO, Chile 2016. – On Thursday March 3rd, the best startups of the second generation of The S Factory presented their companies in front of recognized entrepreneurs and the investment community in Chile. The winner was “Reveal” founded by Andrea Palmer who was rewarded with prizes from Chivas and Transbank.

Reveal is the first device that tracks psychological indicators of anxiety in real time to predict emotional meltdowns in people with autism. The device immediately notifies parents so that they can intervene and prevent extreme situations.

After the pitches at “Pitch Finale”, the judges entered into a tough deliberation to decide on the winner. “Reveal, by Awake Labs” was chosen because of its innovative approach in tackling a real problem. “The S Factory has helped us tremendously with Awake Labs’ progress. Being here in the program allowed us to hire data scientists to develop our prototype, that I will be tested as soon as I get back to Vancouver”, said Palmer. “The S Factory is an amazing community of young entrepreneurs that really support each other during the whole program and I saw from really close how they were developing their projects during this 3 months “she added.

The Second place was for “Rhizomics” founded by the Chilean Daniela Salas, biotech venture focused on promoting sustainable agriculture. Third place was a tie between the two African teams in the program, both from Nigeria, on the one hand “Skrife” online platform for creating original content written for business and on the other hand “Beavly” project that seeks to break into the form of African informal learning, through a web platform that connects people wanting to learn new skills with professionals who accept payment of a fee to train them.

“After 12 weeks of hard work, the improvements are huge. Some of them came just with an idea and now they have a viable business model”, said Patricia Hansen, Executive Director of TSF.

Pitch Finale Winners

First place – Reveal by Awake Labs: Awake Labs is committed to improve the lives of people living with autism. 1 in 68 people have an Autism Spectrum Disorder and 85% will require continued support throughout their entire lives.

Their first product is Reveal, a wearable device to measure anxiety for people on the autism spectrum. Reveal tracks the three leading physiological indicators of anxiety in real-time, in order to predict behavior meltdowns, notify a parent or caregiver so they can intervene and prevent the meltdown from happening. This can help improve attention in the classroom, increase independence, and improve transition to the workforce.

Second place – Rhizomics: A biotech-based startup concerned about sustainable agriculture. Our contribution is to design solutions based on benefic microorganisms to improve Organic and Traditional Agriculture. Our products increase the efficiency of crops by reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are harmful for the environment.

Third Place – Beavly: A web platform that connects people eager to learn new skills; with business professionals who accept fees to train people in a physical and practical environment. We seek to disrupt the informal learning industry in Africa by building a large marketplace that facilitates skills acquisition in small scale industries.

Third Place – Skrife: An online platform that creates original written content for businesses through our exclusive community of vetted freelance writers and editors.

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